Tribalism, South Sudan, and Us

Tribal. I'm again reminded of what the left is attempting in our culture. Two weeks ago at church we hosted the president of The Lutheran Church of South Sudan and he explained the terrible losses among the Christians, who after finally gaining independence from the predominantly Muslim Sudan after decades of oppression and civil war, have returned to their tribal state and are killing each other in tribal warfare and terrorism.

Yesterday I checked out from the library "A rope from the sky; the making and unmaking of the world's newest State," (2019) by Zach Vertin. The author worked in Sudan and DC (Obama administration) and has both a local and western viewpoint on the unfolding tragedy.

Vertin doesn't expose this (obviously a liberal), but going or returning to tribal instincts is essential in what is also happening in the U.S. Diversity, multiculturalism, intersectionality, inclusion, equity, social justice, liberation, revolution, reparations, tolerance are all agenda words that really mean divide and conquer. That's what every IED (Inclusion, Equity, Diversity) department in college or business is about. Divide; get people to fight each other. Women against men, black against white, gay against straight, trans against drag, college educated against less educated, blue collar against degreed, urban against rural, patriot against globalist, Protestant against Catholic, mainline against evangelical, vegetarian against meat eating, animal rights against pet owners, fit against fat--any excuse imaginable to keep the political divide going.

Being a librarian, I always check table of contents, index and bibliography first to see if a title will be worth my time. Christianity was not listed in the index so I could cherry pick what I wanted to read, but I did find a few paragraphs on p. 119, not bad for a political writer. He does say,

"Amid a history of war and division, church leaders have often been voices of reason and reconciliation. But the legacy of divvying up the map between denominations has also complicated the work and perceptions of church leaders, as no institution has remained immune to politics and polarization.'

So far I haven't found any interviews of priests, pastors or missionaries--and as evidenced by his basketball player talk (Vertin is 6'5" and dwarfed by Sudan's players) and lost boys dreaming about their cattle--he's very good at that.

Lori—from Obama to Trump

She had never paid much attention to politics, but did vote for Obama his first term.  From the WalkAway Facebook page.

“One of the things that appealed to us about Obama was healthcare. We had a child with pre existing conditions and were paying a $600 per month additional premium on him. We wanted Obamacare and not to have to pay that extra premium anymore. Well, what a lie that turned out to be. Not only did the extra premium not go away for our child with a pre existing condition, but we had to pay more every month and it has steadily increased ever since!

We became small business owners during Obama’s first term and this is what really started opening our eyes to Democrats not being good for small business. We were providing jobs but being taxed to death and providing affordable healthcare for our employees is almost impossible. We did not vote for Obama his second term mainly for business and health care reasons, but still did not wise up that the media had a liberal agenda. What woke me up to the lefts true agenda was the Media when Trump announced his candidacy. I could not understand why the media was so hateful towards him. I just couldn’t believe the hate and why wasn’t the media being neutral?! I could not stand to watch the news because if it. I became a supporter of Trump early on because I agreed with everything he was saying.”

The back row in America

Chris Arnade, a Wall Street bond trader, had a pretty lofty view of himself. He was an atheist, and a progressive. This is from his new book, "Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America," Sentinel, 2019.

"Like most successful and well-educated people, especially in New York City, I considered myself open-minded, considerate, and reflective about my privilege. I read three ­papers daily, I watched documentaries on our social problems, and I voted for and supported policies that I felt recognized and addressed my privilege. I gave money and time to charities that focused on ­poverty and injustice. I understood that I was ­selfish, but I rationalized. Aren’t we all selfish? ­Besides, I am far less selfish than others. Look at how I vote (­progressive), what I believe in (equality), and who my colleagues are (people of all races from all ­places)."

And so he begins traveling, photographing and talking to "back row America" and discovers that those in the front row don't have all the answers.

You can read this excerpt on-line, https://www.firstthings.com/article/2019/06/back-row-america?

Chris Arnade writes for many publications.  In this article in the Guardian he is skin color focused, and he blames Trump for exploiting the pain and humiliation of the poor [but not Hillary?].  However, he gets a lot right in this article published shortly before the Nov. 2016 election--why Trump is supported by the working (and not working) poor.

"She was blunt when I asked her about her life. “Clarington is a shithole. Jobs all left. There is nothing here anymore. When Ormet Aluminum factory closed, jobs all disappeared.” She is also blunt about the pain in her life. “I have five kids and two have addictions. There is nothing else for kids to do here but drugs. No jobs. No place to play.”

She stopped and added: “I voted for Obama the first time, not the second. Now I am voting for Trump. We just got to change things.”"

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/03/trump-supporters-us-elections

And Trump is changing things, and that is terrifying for the progressives who are willing to give away the country economically, socially and culturally. What he says about education rings true to me.  Who would want to give up their position at the top?

The battling deferments, Biden and Trump

Hugh Hewitt has an interesting take on Mayor Pete bringing up Trump's deferments 50 years ago as a way to denigrate him. It's a way, he said, to take out Biden by letting the press and social media do it. You see, Joe Biden had 5 deferments and the same classification as Trump, 1Y (called up only in a national emergency). That clown car is very crowded and someone needs to be thrown under the bus (pardon the mixed metaphors) and right now, Biden is riding high in the polls, and staying very quiet.

Democrats tried to go after Cheney on deferments, but never said anything about Presidents Clinton and Obama.  Obama didn’t need a deferment, but then he also didn’t serve in the military as we had an all volunteer military by then.

Most deferments were for education.  My husband had 3 for being in college and 2 for paternity.  But deferments weren’t fair, either.  He lived in a very large city; rural communities had a more difficult time giving deferments.  Then finally all married men were deferred, so maybe that’s 6.  Women were always deferred from the draft.

The No-Fear Act

I had never heard of the No FEAR act until I came across it in a government document. "On May 15, 2002, Congress enacted the ‘‘Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002,’’ which is now known as the No FEAR Act. One purpose of the No FEAR Act is to ‘‘require that Federal agencies be accountable for violations of antidiscrimination and whistleblower protection laws.’’ Pub. L. 107–174, Summary. In support of this purpose, Congress found that ‘‘agencies cannot be run effectively if those agencies practice or tolerate discrimination.’’ Pub. L. 107– 74, Title I, General Provisions, section 101(1)." So I looked at the 2019 report to see what was going on in violations of the various protection laws, and see that since 2016 the complaints have dropped about 1/3. Didn't see that any resulted in a finding of discrimination after a lengthy investigation and hearing. https://www.cdc.gov/eeo/docs/2019-No-Fear-Tables-2nd-Qtr-04-9-2019.pdf

The Dear John letter

This isn't exactly a Memorial Day tale, but. . . I was talking to a Vietnam vet today about church. He’d never heard of Lakeside, Ohio, which is a Chautauqua community originating as a Methodist Campground.  He said he grew up Catholic--attended church 6 days a week. I asked him when was the last time he'd been to confession, and he said 1967. He was in Vietnam and went to confession. The next day he got a "Dear John" letter from his fiancé who had become pregnant by another man while he was gone. He never went back to church, and he has no idea what became of his fiancé or the baby, except the new boyfriend dropped her.  He must not have grown up in a small town—people never forget those things, or what happened to whom, when and why.

I had the feeling she didn’t follow these instructions. https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Dear-John-Letter

96 cherries in every bottle!

Not everyone reads full page magazine ads for products new to her. I do, especially if my friend Sonja just told me how many tart cherries must be in a cherry pie by law. This product, a juice drink called Cherrish, has 96 cherries (pulp, skin, and juice) in one 12 oz. bottle! The nearest store to me is in Las Vegas, so if I want to try it, I suppose it will be via Amazon. http://www.cherrish.net/why-cherries/ I don't have symptoms of exercise induced muscle damage, but who knows, some day I may work hard enough at the gym to get that. . .

Speaking of cherries, I just bought a pound of sweet cherries--just gorgeous and delicious--for $2.99/lb at Marc's. Not sure they will last until lunch time.

Happy Birthday, Mom

My mother would be 107 today. It's hard to imagine, and also to believe she's been gone since 2000. Our family never made much of a fuss about birthdays when I was growing up, and I can recall only a few times I was with her to celebrate during adulthood. I saw her for 2 days in late May of 1993 when I came out from Chicago after an MLA conference, but then she left for the DC area to see a granddaughter graduate, so I can't remember if we did anything to celebrate. Perhaps she celebrated it jointly with Julie. Then in the late 90s my sister and I both came in May and spent time with her.

And today is also the 3-day week-end date for Memorial Day, the last Monday in May instead of May 30 which was the date from 1868 to 1971--certainly enough years for me to adjust. It was originally a day to honor the Civil War dead--and there is still some controversy about that--however, now the tradition is to decorate the graves of family and friends, but also attend parades to honor war dead. In a letter to her cousin in Iowa, Marianne [posted at my blog], "Mom fretted a little on Memorial Day 1975 that she and her sister were the only ones left to place flowers at the grave sites of parents and brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, something their mother had always done." I hope my brother is able to get to Ashton to continue the family tradition of our parents and grandparents, and that my sister will place some flowers on the graves in Plainview in Mt. Morris.

Mom actually had a great uncle Jacob, the brother of her grandfather David, who died in the service during the Civil War, but if my grandmother, her mother knew that, she never told my mom. His birth and death dates are not in the family Bible. He was born in 1848 and died in May 1865, just weeks before the end of the war. He's buried in the National Cemetery in Nashville [Section J, grave 14379]. Mom and her sister found out about this 120 years later through a cousin in Iowa who still owned a letter he'd written from a prison camp. He was only 16 years old when he enlisted.

We are usually at our lake home over Memorial Day Week-end and here's a collection of the blogs I've written about it. https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/search/label/Memorial%20Day

Abortion’s link to breast cancer

Women should be told about the relationship between induced abortion and breast cancer. And so should researchers who look only at race, income and social safety net. In the 1950s black women and white women were married at about the same percentage, but that changed with the War on Poverty and drastically by the late 1990s. Until the late 1950s black women had lower breast cancer mortality rates than white--even with aggressive segregation, more poverty, poor housing, and limits to education. And guess what else changed? Higher abortion rates for black women than white when Uncle Sam became the sugar daddy.

https://rtl.org/educational-materials/abortion-breast-cancer-link/

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6540a1.htm

http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/0817998721_95.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2568204/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2730628

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/why-do-more-black-women-get-breast-cancer-more-black-women-get-abortio

We’re all safe.

If we're on your prayer list, thanks. It never hurts to be preemptive. We're OK. The fire has been put out, and we had some clean up. The cottage odor is a combination of Febreze, scented candles and burned butter. We had a wonderful meal at Sortino's (Sandusky, OH) on Thursday evening and came home with 5 carry out bags + bread. However, the 20" stove in our summer home wouldn't quite hold everything when we tried to warm up dinner the next evening and (we're blaming Bob) some fettuccini alfredo over flowed, dripping butter, which then caught on fire. The four of us in the tiny kitchen (think Keystone Cops) were a hoot, with Phoebe rescuing our dinner from the flames and Mark squelching the fire. It is cleaning week-end so we then had fine soot over our freshly washed cabinets, counters, and floors. BUT. No one was hurt and there's no permanent damage. Supper was delicious once we all settled down, and I think there's enough for tonight's dinner. I do plan to buy a new stove, though.

The end of women’s sports

"If you know sport, you know this beyond a reasonable doubt: there is an average 10-12 percent performance gap between elite males and elite females," Coleman and Shreve wrote in an analysis published online.

"The gap is smaller between elite females and non-elite males, but it's still insurmountable and that's ultimately what matters," they wrote.

"Translating these statistics into real world results," they wrote, "we see, for example, that: Just in the single year 2017, Olympic, World and U.S. Champion Tori Bowie's 100 meters lifetime best of 10.78 was beaten 15,000 times by men and boys.”

https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/terence-p-jeffrey/house-votes-effectively-ban-womens-sports?

Venting on stupidity in Washington

Why do billionaires like Soros, Steyer, Bezos, Zuckerburg, Brin, et. al. support the Democrats? It's good for business, and they are first and foremost capitalists and globalists. The more heavy handed government control, the less competition they'll have because smaller companies won't be able survive.

Since November 2016 the Democrats have done nothing but try to impeach the President and have accomplished nothing for the country. The Mueller report is out and they are still at it. The Democrats are rushing to impeach because the investigation of the Obama regime's spying is coming down the pike. (Caller to Mike Gallagher show--paraphrased). Good point. And that may have been the motive behind the entire phony investigation.

"We no longer live in a constitutional republic. We live in an idiocracy. Only in modern-day America, under the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, is the basic proposition that federally subsidized public housing should benefit American citizens and legal residents slammed as “despicable” and “damaging.” " Michelle Malkin

Women are marching in support of killing other women's children. Whatever moral authority women may have had in the past, it's gone forever.  The pro-lifers marching outside the clinics are the abolitionists of the 21st century. The pro-choicers bragging about their abortions at rallies are the slave traders of the 18th century.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2017/05/22/zuckerbergs-open-borders-group-enforcing-immigration-law-hurts-public-safety/

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Bezos-contributions-Democrat-Washington-Post/2013/08/07/id/519168/

https://dailycaller.com/2018/07/30/soros-uygur-ocasio-cortez/

If you think Trump divided your family, abortion is worse

From a Facebook acquaintance:

“Up until this week, we have navigated the differences in political positions within the family without major upsets. We have weathered liberal children, weathered acceptance of a gay son and his partner (love the partner as he’s a great guy). However, this week, the position young women are taking “triggered” deeply held beliefs about the unborn child. We both support abortion up until a point of viability, but not after. Our daughter reposted something after the Alabama law was signed which essentially said: get over yourself, forget what you learned in church, they are only cells.

My response first said that I disagreed with the Alabama law as eight weeks is far too son for some women to even realize they are pregnant and miscarriages are quite common in first trimester. Should have stopped there but I didn’t.

I said do not be dismissive of other people’s beliefs. I went own to say that I don’t consider the fetus just cells when it rolls, kicks, punches, sucks it’s thumb, and moves away from the ultrasound wand. Next, is where I went a step too far in saying, but believing, if you can dismiss this, I question your humanity. I would love to post the exact wording but I have been blocked, unfriendly, and she has enlisted her brother and her sister’s husband to do the same. This is my step daughter who is 30. We have had a very close relationship for 20 years. She has considered me her mom over her natural mother because mom is unstable.

I am a bit angry and disappointed. She’s most likely hurt (mom would have never said these things to her). Yet, other than the unfortunate choice of words, women celebrating their abortions have really set me off as it is not something to celebrate. I think of all the couples who want a child and cannot get pregnant and/or carry an infant to term, and I feel for them at the callousness of someone dismissing the fetus as “just cells”. “

Trump supporters are compared to KKK and Nazis by—who else—failed entertainers

The latest was Jeff Daniels who hasn’t been seen since Full House emptied.

What is it about smaller government, lower taxes, a vibrant economy, a secure border, honest judges, employment for minorities and ex-felons, a growing conservative black middle class, babies who survive womb warfare, and more freedom that terrifies Democrats and they lapse into "Nazi" and "racist" when faced with the successes of the last two years?

One would think they knew nothing about their own history!! Jim Crow, pushing fathers out of the home, ignoring crime, bringing in drugs over the border to destroy the young, destroying small businesses with regulation to protect the big corporations from competition. Wake up!

In the spirit of vote buying

I think we all knew they wouldn't stop with statues of Confederate war heroes, which previous presidents have declared U.S. veterans and whose descendants were eligible for pensions and benefits. When it suits them and they need the votes, Democrats can be quite forgiving and tender-hearted. They will pardon draft dodgers and war time deserters (Carter, Truman, FDR, Obama). The last Democrat in the White House even bequeathed billions to our enemy Iran—bundles of cash in the dark of night.

Democrat party supporters and fund raisers in the entertainment world will perpetrate the worst form of violence, sexism and destruction of innocent human life--all for the bread and circus of votes. And for the same reason, they'll attack long deceased founders and heroes of our nation.

Is it too early, or too late, to condemn the writers, directors, producers and actors of "Game of Thrones" and their addicted followers for their fascination with violence, rape, incest and racism (a pretense to care about climate change and women's moral authority), when surely in such enlightened times as these and contemporary political climate of MeToo-ism they should have known better? Isn’t it the product of 2 white guys?

The lame never Trumpers support the Democrats

Michael Smith has figured out the plan: "You just scrape up two dozen losers who are so radical or unknown there is no way they can be elected to soak up all the support from the socialist/mentally ill morons and then toss in 76 year-old two time loser and Democrat establishment life-member Joe Biden, who was once rated as one of the most progressive members of the Senate during his 36 years there, but now looks reasonable in comparison.

Brilliant!"

But then, there was a crowded field in 2015-2016--strongest bench ever for Republicans, and one by one they went down until the totally unexpected happened. And he is accomplishing everything Republicans claimed they wanted-- a flourishing economy, conservative judges all over the nation, removal of the hated mandate, saving babies who are our future, and standing up to our enemies--and boy, are they mad about that.

Lutheran Church of South Sudan

Our Sunday School class today had the opportunity to hear Rev. Jordan Long, President of the Lutheran Church of South Sudan, and to hear about some REAL persecution which in turn is spreading the gospel to the refugee camps of millions of Sudanese who have fled the violence to neighboring countries. During their civil war 2.5 million were killed, and now that they have their own country (primarily Christian) and aren't fighting the Arab Muslims who oppressed them, they are fighting each other! All politics is based on family and tribes, he said, and it is that way in all of Africa.

Three members of our church had traveled to South Sudan to observe and learn about opportunities there for service. They are endless! But as I listened I recognized the problems in our own country--how even in times of peace there will be people who sow doubt and anger in order to obtain or keep power. Their tribal system reminded me how our powerful Democrat and Republican "families" and tribes in D.C. or the state capitals don't want to give up their power.

The Lutheran Church of South Sudan has started a seminary, and because there are 64 languages spoken in that small country, all instruction is in English, which is also taught in the high schools. Sometimes we Americans don't appreciate the beauty or unity of having a single language--and there are even trouble makers among us, especially academe, who claim it's xenophobic and racist to be unified that way.

Five years ago they had a handful of students meeting under a tree, and now have buildings and 2700 students. They are moving ahead with western partners for pure water, "welcoming" bath rooms, and computers for their computer room in the seminary.

http://lutherancss.org/about.shtml

Graduation speaker pushing liberal agenda. What’s new?

Janice Shaw Crouse notes: "Commencement speaker at Bucknell graduation (invited by the all-female student officers). Former Secretary of State and distinguished political leader, Madeleine Albright. No conservative students showed disrespect and none protested. I sat and listened. Her remarks were typically biased and disappointingly progressive ideology — never missed an opportunity to disparage conservatives and American values. Very limited sporadic, unenthusiastic applause. How awful to use this occasion to push a radical agenda!"

And liberals don’t get it!

“Bucknell University's 169th Commencement celebration will be held on the Malesardi Quadrangle on Sunday, May 19, beginning at 10 a.m.”

The photo must be 25 years old at least.

https://www.bucknell.edu/news-and-media/current-news/2019/february/madeleine-albright-is-bucknells-2019-commencement-speaker

Wisdom for Friday

Five lifestyles which will prolong your life. . . maybe

Have you ever seen this statement--"Americans have a shorter life expectancy compared with residents of almost all other high-income countries." I wish they'd qualify that by race, ethnicity, immigration status and age. Are Swedish Americans less healthy than ethnic Swedes in Sweden? Finnish Americans worse off than those born in Helsinki? German Americans? Drugs, auto accidents, and gun deaths wipe out a big swath of young Americans which unfortunately drastically alters our life expectancy national statistics. Losing weight, eating a healthy diet, and exercising more are good for you as an individual, but probably won't change national statistics as long as those 3 killers are present.

Here's what the journal "Circulation" determined: "Adherence to 5 low-risk lifestyle-related factors (never smoking, a healthy weight, regular physical activity, a healthy diet, and moderate alcohol consumption) could prolong life expectancy at age 50 years by 14.0 and 12.2 years for female and male US adults compared with individuals who adopted zero low-risk lifestyle factors."

Simple, right? Popular health journals and websites (usually sponsored by pharmaceutical companies) have jumped on that one. Buckets of articles and bags of advice have come from that. But. As young adults, people (like me in the 1960s or my parents in the 1930s) observing those five lifestyles were probably not involved in violent gangs, car chases while drunk, stealing to support an opioid habit, or eating wings at the local bar and washing them down with 12 beers several times a week. Those five lifestyles often include a monogamous marriage, higher education levels, stable jobs, church attendance, strong family and friend relationships. It's not that grandma who smoked like a chimney and drank six beers a day didn't live to be 105, or that cousin Ralph dropped dead jogging at age 40, but they are the exception.

I haven't read the whole article, but I know how it will be cited: support take over by the government of our health insurance because look how unhealthy Americans are. Studies in countries with socialized medicine that compare their healthiest and their least healthy show the same spread as the U.S. and that there are income gaps, education disparity and socio-economic differences which government health insurance doesn't change.

This article is free access.  “Circulation” is one of the best peer reviewed journals you can read on cardiovascular issues. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032047